A large yacht is docked at Ross’s Landing on Wednesday in the shadow of the Tennessee Aquarium.As if bringing a $20 million yacht from Florida to a Tennessee football game wasn’t enough, the scheduled month-long voyage was extended even longer when the Chickamauga Lock unexpectedly shut down last week.
But the 7-person crew on the luxury vessel dubbed “Freedom” isn’t complaining about their extended autumn visit through East Tennessee.
“We got to see some snow last week and stopping here at Chattanooga’s waterfront is one of the best places anywhere,” Dan Corcoran, the captain of the Freedom, said Monday while the board was docked in Chattanooga Wednesday on its way back to Florida.
The owner of the 6-year-old yacht, who Corcoran declined to identify, brought his yacht to Knoxville two weeks ago for the Tennessee-Alabama football game. The owner did the same thing two years ago when the Vols and the Crimson Tide last played football at Neyland Stadium on the banks of the Tennessee River in Knoxville.
In 2012, the owner rode along with the crew for part of the voyage. But this time, his schedule dictated that he and his guests were on the boat for just the weekend of the Oct. 25 game when Alabama beat Tennessee 34-20.